Petition filed in Lahore HC to put Nawaz Sharif, children on Pakistan's exit control list

Lahore: A petition was filed today in the Lahore High Court, requesting it to order the government to place the names of ousted Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his children on the Exit Control List to stop them from fleeing the country.

The petition was filed on a day when Sharif and his sons — Hussain and Hasan, daughter Maryam, son-in-law Captain (retd) Safdar and finance minister Ishaq Dar — failed to appear before the country's top anti-graft body which is to interrogate them over money laundering and corruption charges revealed by the Panama Papers.

The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had issued summons to interrogate them in its Lahore office in connection with their offshore properties revealed by the Panama Papers.

Justice Mamoon Rashid accepted the plea filed by Barrister Javed Iqbal Jaffrey and issued notices to the federal government and interior ministry to file their reply on August 25.

Jeffrey said that 67-year-old Sharif and his children are not appearing before the NAB despite Supreme Court orders to face money laundering and corruption charges against them.

"It is very much likely that they may flee the country to evade accountability," the petitioner said.

Meanwhile, the watchdog, irked over the Sharif family's non-cooperation, was considering writing to the interior ministry to place their names on the Exist Control List, stopping them from leaving the country, an official said.